POLM inhibits porcine epidemic diarrhea virus replication by degrading multiple viral structural proteins

Abstract

PEDV is a coronavirus that causes high mortality in piglets, which poses significant economic damage to swine farming. During PEDV infection, the host cells may promote the natural anti-viral immune response to suppress viral replication through a variety of potential host factors. In this study, we found upregulation of a host factor POLM by FOXA1 (a transcription factor) during PEDV infection. It was indicated that POLM could be a new anti-viral protein against the PEDV replication, which interacted with MARCH8 (an E3 ubiquitin ligase) and p62 (a cargo receptor) to facilitate the PEDV N, S2, and M protein degradation via the autophagy process. Apart from elucidating a previously unidentified anti-viral function of POLM, this study also provides a novel perspective for studying host anti-viral factors that act as regulators of anti-PEDV protein degrading pathways.